Hosiery
Tights: As for tights, less is more: Unless you're a model, or just happen to have model-thin legs, patterned or colored tights will make your thighs and calves appear thicker than you'd like. Sorry, "tights are a fashion statement" people (you know who you are), it's a fact.
For a more chic and streamlined look, go barelegged (try spray-on stockings if you're scarred or marred), with sheer black or with matte opaque black stockings (with an opacity gauge of 60+ denier).
Stay Away From: Argyle tights, large-hole fishnets, Fairisle-patterned tights. It's not that I don't recognize the wooly warm appeal of fresh-from-the-mists-of-Ireland patterned tights, but if your aim is to look lithe, avoid them. Sorry. You wouldn't wear big furry caterpillars on your legs (even if they were fabulous, fashionable, trendy caterpillars from the mists of Ireland), now would you?
Get some: Old Navy's opaque tights are a total steal for under $5 (sometimes they even go on sale!). H&M (in select cities) stocks a terrific 60-denier opacity long legging. And Donna Karan's sheer black hosiery is the sexiest, slickest splurge at about $17 a pop. Donna's tights? Make your legs look like they're shrouded in the most subtle, slimming, candlelight-esque shadow.
If you get to the U.K., take yourself to a Marks & Spencer (there's one on practically every block in London) for some of their bargain-priced 60-denier black tights. They're ultra-opaque and virtually indestructible. Seriously, some of mine have outlasted pairs of designer jeans.
For a bit of extra support, try Spanx brand control-top tights. They're a celeb favorite. Oprah claims she never goes a day without Spanx.
Socks
Shh! It's secret socks: If you absolutely must wear socks, keep it on the down low by donning secret socks — the socks that hide in your shoes. Socks that cut off your leg at the ankle or halfway up your calf make your legs look shorter and stumpy stumpy stumpy.
Gold Toe brand secret socks, available in multipacks at department stores everywhere, are the gold standard for athletic secret socks. They don't slide down and they last forever.
Stay Away From: Tube socks pulled up, mid-calf socks, trouser socks — the latter are not automatically, universally evil, but if you can see the tops of the trouser socks when you sit down, you're asking for trouble.
